When Bai Youwei finished speaking, she furrowed her brow again, uncertain: “…Actually, maybe that’s not quite right either. If they were capable of calmly analyzing a target, they would have known they had absolutely no chance of succeeding. Knowing they’d be caught — why would they still do it?”

Shen Mo said: “If you’re not comfortable with these people, we can simply go our own way — we don’t have to take them along.”

“No, we have to bring them.” Bai Youwei shook her head. “They’ve been in the maze for months — they know the situation far better than we do. And if we leave them behind, we lose track of their movements. If they’re moving at the same time we are, doesn’t that effectively give the Minotaur double the number of move steps?”

Shen Mo knitted his brow and thought about it for a while, also finding the situation tricky. He asked her: “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow…” Bai Youwei pursed her lips and sighed. “Let’s try first and see if we can find a corner room.”

……

The second half of the night passed without incident.

The next day, everyone woke in pitch darkness.

Bai Youwei announced they would set out in half an hour, and everyone began eating and drinking while packing their things.

The three men in the corner had also woken. They pulled a loaf of bread from the magic pouch, broke it into three small pieces, and ate slowly — one piece each.

Du Lai, with both hands tucked into his hoodie pocket, ambled over to them with idle curiosity.

“Why not take a couple more?” Du Lai asked. “Is that really enough?”

“It’s enough…” Mark answered quietly. “Staying in here with nothing to do, your appetite just… shrinks over time.”

As he said so, he stuffed the bread into his mouth — same as the other two, heads down, eating in silence.

The soft bread seemed difficult for them to swallow. After gulping down several mouthfuls of water, they finally managed to get it down their throats.

When Mark finished eating and saw Du Lai still staring at him, he explained: “After eating it for several months, we’re honestly a little sick of it.”

“Is that so.” Du Lai smiled casually. “Several months of the same thing every day — easy to get sick of.”

Du Lai pulled a packet of biscuits from his pocket and offered it to them: “Want to try something different?”

“No, no, please keep it for yourself!” Mark said hurriedly. “We’re already full — our stomachs have gotten small, we get full with very little…”

Du Lai smiled ambiguously and put the biscuits away. “Since you’re already full, then.”

Mark gave an awkward smile.

Dylan also lifted his head, revealing a face with bread crumbs on it, and smiled at Du Lai.

Slade still had that same dull, dazed look about him. He held his piece of bread in his hand but couldn’t bring himself to swallow it, just staring at Chen Hui not far away and drooling.

Leonid caught sight of this and seethed with anger, but couldn’t bring himself to make a scene about it.

You couldn’t very well pick a fight with someone who was mentally ill.

Chen Hui shot the man a disgusted glare, then turned and walked over to Bai Youwei’s tent. “Wei-jie, we’re all ready — do we set out early?”

From inside Bai Youwei’s tent came a faint sound of tiny cheeping and chirping.

Chen Hui looked puzzled and called again: “…Wei Wei-jie?”

“Mm, coming.” Bai Youwei responded.

After another moment, Bai Youwei came out of the tent carrying a bamboo basket, inside which were crammed over a dozen fluffy little chicks.

Chen Hui was astonished: “Wei Wei-jie, where did you get chickens from?”

Bai Youwei replied: “Hatched from eggs.”

Chen Hui: “Where did the eggs come from?”

Bai Youwei: “Laid by the chicken.”

Chen Hui: “……”

Du Lai also walked over, reached into the bamboo basket for a feel, and curved his lips upward: “Haven’t seen living things like this in a while. Are you planning to use these chicks as scouts?”

Before Bai Youwei could answer, Mark stood up and said: “That won’t work — as long as you and the chick aren’t in the same stone chamber, the chick will be judged as ‘unclaimed’ and then disappear!”

Bai Youwei tilted her head to look at him, smiling. “You’ve tried it?”

—